Chapter 11
Setting: In the soundproof room just beside the room where Aoi was being tormented by Byakuran's immense power …
"Ushishishi, how stupid of you to get caught in the act of rescuing us," Prince the Ripper taunted the failed savior who pretended to be sleeping.
"VOOII! Bel's right… for once… you good for nothing little pest! Mammon could have done better than you!" Squalo supplied.
"Hn," Levi grunted his support to Bel and Squalo.
"Ara, ara, boys, we should stop the fighting and focus on the escaping instead," Lussuria, ever the peacemaker and the one with the most common sense, suggested.
They turned around, faced then glared at Lussuria. All three seemed to be telepathically saying, "Fuck of you gay idiot."
"Oh my," Lussuria could only mutter, beads of sweat trickling down his face.
Suddenly, a dying will flame fired off a gun. "Trash, stop arguing, you're all making me lose my temper. Give me some steak," Xanxus ordered.
Squalo shouted back, "You damn boss! Can't you see that we're trapped in this aquarium-like cage that currently seems to be unaffected by our box weapons' strongest attacks and yet you act like a spoiled brat asking for some steak!"
A nerve popped in Xanxus's forehead, he fired his weapon again. "Trash, give me some beef steak," he fired another set of dying will bullet attacks at the direction of Squalo who, due to his fast reflexes, dodged all of them.
Fran was unable to withstand the entire racket. His senpai-tachi were having a mighty free-for-all fight and it was irresistible to join.
"This shows how low you guys are," a voice interrupted the squabble which was beginning to show promise. Immediately, box weapons returned to their respective boxes; knives, swords, black umbrellas and guns were sheathed; the brawl ceased, all because of Genkishi. Heads of the Varia glowered at the proud Millefiore officer who didn't care at all to be at the receiving end of the six cold, penetrating and murderous stares. "Fighting over trivial things like rhinoceroses fight for a mate," he continued in his emphatic voice. "Bring her in," he ordered to the sentries guarding the soundproof room. They dragged a girl who was drenched in her own blood. Aoi. She was in such pain and agony that she had a hard time just being mindful of her surroundings. Her mismatched eyes scanned the room and saw her ex-fellow Varia Officers trapped in a cage. No one in the room could tell what was going on in her mind at the moment. "Honor your agreement with the boss and do your job dutifully," Genkishi said.
"Of course, who do you think I am?" Aoi replied back sarcastically, releasing herself from the hold of the guards. "Leave, I would like to kill them by myself." The male sentries looked at Genkishi for approval. He, in turn gave it and all three of them left the soundproof room leaving the blood-soaked Aoi alone with her fellow comrades.
"You betrayed us," Fran numbly stated.
"Of course I did, I only joined the Varia as a pastime to regain all my past memories back," Aoi replied.
"And so, what did that Millefiore scum offer you in exchange of pledging your loyalty to him?" Bel asked in a tone that Squalo hadn't heard for years. It reeked of murder and pure disgust.
"Well duh, he offered to tell me my past," Aoi replied sarcastically, with an air of arrogance that the Varia people hadn't heard her put on before.
"Once you release us from this prison, you're gonna die instead," Squalo swore.
"Oh really?" the illusion of Aoi replied back.
WHAT WAS REALLY HAPPENING WAS THIS.
The real Aoi did enter the room being dragged by the sentries and the minute Genkishi spoke to her, she immediately created a clone of herself that was so perfect that nobody in the room noticed. She made an illusion that she was invisible and swapped places with her double. This mist-trick was so strong that Mukuro could have been proud of his sister, then again, maybe not. But in any case, this illusion was powerful enough to fool even the security cameras which Aoi blocked with her illusions that a full-scaled battle was happening in the soundproof room. Finally safe from the prying eyes of Byakuran, the real Aoi revealed herself whilst keeping her clone talking to her Varia companions.
"Th-there are two Aoi's…" Lussuria stammered, he and the rest of the Varia members, including Xanxus, looked confused and lost for words.
"Oh please, can't you tell the difference between an illusion and the magician?" the real Aoi snapped back, her line of patience broke. Immediately, the Aoi with a superior air disappeared. What remained was an Aoi who looked so tired that she could have passed out any second. Wincing at every step, her illusions taking every ounce of her strength, she let her body slide to the glass exterior of the prison.
The boys stared at her at surprise. Why was she wiping her blood on the cage? Well, the answer's simple. You need blood or any liquid to escape from the cell, Byakuran told her when she agreed to be his officer to take place of someone called Irie Shouichi who was being closely monitored since he displayed subtle actions that suggested treachery. Since there was no key or card to the prison, once liquid has been spread on its surface, all it took was a little poke to make the prison cell crash. This was exactly what Aoi was doing.
But instead of a hug from Fran as gratitude for saving them, what she got were volleys of knives, bolts of lightning, dying will flame bullets, two swords and a punch. The knives pinned her against the wall, the lightning struck her, as well as the bullets, the swords and the punch. She appeared to have no energy left for dodging and received the blows instead. She coughed out blood a few seconds after the impact.
"Idiots, I only joined the Millefiore as an act to –" she began, after a spitting her blood on the floor. It was amazing how she could stay alive after losing so much amount of blood that could have killed an ordinary mafia person.
"As an act to save you guys," Byakuran continued for Aoi. Everyone in the soundproof room (except Aoi who was too weak to move) looked at the intruder. "How heroic, doing those things for you comrades," Byakuran said, "But it was all in vain."
"You bastard, it was you who –" Aoi began after coughing out blood again.
"Yes, it was me who picked you up after you did that to the scientists, I offered you the same deal but you declined as well during that time," Byakuran cut Aoi off.
"Who in the whole fucking world would want to join you and your twisted cause?" Aoi retorted back, with a surprising vigil for a severely injured person.
"Mukuro Rokudo expressed enthusiasm to my approach," Byakuran replied. This caught Aoi off guard. "But, he said I was a distraction in his own path of destroying the world and said that he had to kill me to get what he wanted," he continued in a slightly disappointed tone.
"See?" She triumphantly commented from her painful situation.
"But, when he tried to dispose of me, I was the one who became the disposer instead," he said.
"You monster! What did you do to my brother?" Aoi asked vehemently. She tore herself from Bel's restraining knives and stood upright despite her huge wounds.
"Interesting…" Byakuran thought. "Like what I implied earlier, I guess I killed him," he said out loud.
"You guessed? You GUESSED? TELL ME WHAT REALLY HAPPENED, YOU STUPID EXCUSE FOR A BOSS!" she shouted. Never had she been that angry, never had she been that frustrated, never had she been that distressed before; all these strong emotions overrode her bloody gashes. "Get THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" she ordered the other Varia while several columns of intense fire erupted from the floor.
"VOOIII! Who are you to –" Squalo started to protest, Bel, Levi, Fran and Lussuria were ready to do the same as well. Xanxus was acting strangely calm, like he knew what was beginning to unfold.
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" She ordered again, interrupting Squalo. She stretched out her right hand and a trident started to grow out of nowhere. Her Hell Ring, and her Varia Cloud Ring ignited with her dying will flames of resolution. Its intensity could rival that of the 10th generation Boss of the Vongola. Her red eye with a kanji started to cry tears of blood. The strain on her body was too much, yet Aoi didn't care. All she cared about was to rip off that smile plastered Millefiore Boss's face. She would make sure that no one would end up the same way as her brother did. "You'll pay for that," she threatened, unleashing her true and hidden power.
The Varia was held captive by Aoi's sudden display of strength. They had no idea that she would be that strong, that she had kept all that raw resolution secret for the period of time she spent with them.
Images flashed in Aoi's mind as she let loose all her entire might. Blood. The Dead. My hands stained with their blood. White lab medical coats. Oni-chan. Screams of pain. Heat. Terrible heat. Suddenly, everything clicked. She remembered. It wasn't her brother's fault in murdering the scientists responsible for mutating him and her and several other little children. It was all hers. She couldn't control the six doors to hell as her brother could. It was Mukuro-nichan who deleted all her memories regarding this matter, a matter that was her past. I was searching for this kind of memory? She stared at her hands which looked bloodstained. But at the present, it was her blood not anyone else's.
"Aoi?" someone had asked for her attention.
She perked up, her eyes widening, her power was escaping from her once again. She still couldn't control it. Tears sprang from the end of her eyes. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.
"We charge Aoi Tsubasa with the act of mass murder and treason," a deep voice announced, bringing with it a cold atmosphere. It was the Vindice. The law-keepers of the Mafia. Shackles immediately bound Aoi in the neck, wrists and ankles. She sank on the floor and fainted out of gratefulness, giving in to her body that was screaming for rest. She hadn't killed anybody. The Vindice disappeared as quickly as they had arrived, bringing with them a new prisoner to be thrown in the most impregnable cell of the whole jail. They left everyone lost for words, for the umpteenth time.
Kami-sama, Arigatou.
If there were typos and grammatical errors, just deal with it. XD I'm too lazy to fix it. I'll probably correct them sooner or later. :))